Marx, Marshall, And 'the Good Water-Nymphs'‪.‬

Recognition of a simple typographical error in the name of a Greek poet quoted by Alfred Marshall leads us, first, to the identification of the source of the error (Karl Marx's Das Kapital) and the correct identity of the poet; and second, to a comparison of the uses to which the verse in question was put by the two writers. Marx, it is argued, expresses a better grasp than did Marshall of the reality to which the poem refers. 1 Introduction